Flora Medica

ZINGIBERACEJE.Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 322.ZINGIBER.Corolla with the outer limb 3-parted, inner 1-lipped. Filamentlengthened beyond the anther into a simple incurved beak.Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved. Seeds numerous, with arils.Rhizomata tuberous, articulated, creeping. Stems annual, enclosedin the sheaths of distichous leaves. Leaves membranous.Spikes cone-shaped, radical or rarely terminal, solitary, consistingof 1 -flowered imbricated bracts. Blume.1182. Z. officinale Roscoe in Trans. Linn. Soc. viii. 348.Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 47. N. and E. handb. i. 238. pi. med. t. 61.(Rumph. v. t. 66. f. 1. Rheede xi. t. 12.) Cultivated allover the tropics of Asia and America ; where wild not known.(Ginger.)Rhizoma tuberous, biennial. Stems erect, and oblique, invested bythe smooth sheaths of the leaves ; generally 3 or 4 feet high, and annual.Leaves sub-sessile on their long sheaths, bifarious, linear-lanceolate,very smooth above, and nearly so underneath ;sheaths smooth, crownedwith a bifid ligula. Scapes radical, solitary, a little removed from thestems, from 6 to 12 inches high, enveloped in a few obtuse sheaths, theuppermost of which sometimes end in tolerably long leaves. Spikesoblong, the size of a man's thumb. Exterior bracts imbricated,1-flowered, obovate, smooth, membranous at the edge, faintly striatedlengthwise interior ;enveloping the ovary, calyx, and the greater part ofthe tube of the corolla. Flowers rather small, when compared with therest of this natural order. Calyx tubular, opening on one side, 3-toothed.Corolla with a double limb ;outer of 3, nearly equal,oblong segments ;inner a 3-lobed lip, of a dark purple colour. Sterile stamens subulate.Filament short. Anther oblong, double, crowned with a long, curved, taperinggrooved horn. Ovary oval, 3-celled, with many ovules in each;style filiform ; stigma funnel-shaped, ciliate, lodged just under the apexof the horn of the anther. This is the plant that produces Ginger,which is prepared from the rhizoma. The young tender shoots of thispart are preserved in sugar, the older are scalded, scraped, dried andbecome the white ginger root of the if shops ;scalded without beingscraped it becomes black ginger. One of the most valuable of aromatic s,carminative, stimulant, sialagogue. Used in flatulent colic, dyspepsia,gout, debility and torpor of the system.1 1 83. Z. Zerumbet Roscoe in Linn. Trans, viii. 348. N. andE.handb. i. 240. pi. med. t. 62. Fee cours. i. 348. (Rheedeii. t. 13.) East Indies; wild in woods about Calcutta; rare inmoist places in Java.559